Movies and Books To Avoid...

I was just reading the latest newsletter for a local support group for grieving parents. They included a list of Movies and Books Grieving Parents Should Avoid...

I have had the worst luck with choosing movies since we lost our baby. Naturally birth scenes are especially difficult. When I finally thought I was ready to get out of the house a few weeks after my daughter died, a girlfriend took me to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. You would think that would be safe enough but we forgot about the birth which was even in the previews, so we went to the bathroom when the time came. The harder part was the scene with the happy new mama, babe in arms, telling her older daughter how she changed her life the moment she held her in her arms...

A few weeks later the same friend and I went to see The Women with my sister. When the birth scene came up in that one, Jen asked if I wanted to go to the bathroom. I decided that if I made my sister (who is going through a divorce) sit through an entire movie about divorce, I could sit through a birth scene. I just closed my eyes some.

The topper was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I really did not think that one through. I mean if he was born an old man and growing backwards.... how do you think he is going to die? As a tiny baby. In addition there are three high risk birth scenes! It was a really well done movie, but a tearjerker even if you have not lost a baby yourself. A good friend told me she was crying so hard by the time the credits rolled she ran out of the theater so people would not see.

Now let's talk books. As part of launching our Blanket Project back in November, our bookclub read Debbie's Macomber's The Shop on Blossom Street. It is a story about a group of women taking a "How to Knit a Baby Blanket" class. So obviously many baby-related storylines, including a rather unpleasant birth scene, which I skipped over entirely.

And finally Breaking Dawn (the 4th in the Twilight series). I don't want spoilers for those who have not yet read it. But seriously, enough of my friends had read it that SOMEONE should have warned me about a particularly graphic scene... Let's just say, similar enough to my experience for major flashbacks that kept me up the rest of the night.

So if you have a good, lighthearted, birth & baby-free movie to recommend, feel free!